Natural Alternative to Ritalin for Your Children With ADHD

This post is a bit different than what you will normally find at Squeakin' By, but I'm including it since many of you on the left are more concerned with what you put in your body than many folks on the right are. I'm a conservative, but after our 11 year old son was diagnosed with ADD with Aspergers type symptoms, we knew there was no way in hell we were pumping him full of pharmaceuticals/Ritalin.

As luck would have it, my wife grew up with a woman who now has well over 20 years experience with herbal medicine/remedies. She recommended some things to try and we have tweaked them into a protocol that works for us.

First though, I'm claiming copyrights to the below mentioned tea recipe and treatment protocol for obvious reasons, but feel free to try it for personal use for yourself or a family member. Also, even though these are natural ingredients, check for drug interactions with your pharmacist before using this. Better safe than sorry.

Our son's treatment is in two parts. A morning regimen and an evening regimen.

The morning regimen starts off with 6 drops of Ginko Leaf Extract and 6 drops of St. John's Wort in a cup of apple juice. He then gets a 1000 mcg pill of B-12 and a 1200 mg. Omega-3 softgel. This maintains mental clarity.

The evening regimen starts with a tea made as follows:

About 10 oz. water

1/2 level TBSP Lemon Balm

1/2 level TBSP Chamomile

2 level TBSP organic Hops

Boil and strain the tea then add 6 drops of Valerian Root Extract.

We add Stevia to the tea to make it taste better.

We have been doing this long enough to see verifiable results. Our son sleeps longer and more soundly than he did before we started this and, more importantly, he is calm and more focused.

You may have to use Ritalin, but if it is not an actual proven medical necessity, then you may want to give this treatment a try. If you do, PM me and let me know if it works for you. You can also tweak the recipe/number of drops if necessary.

(Update of 02/18/2015: Our son is still using this regimen and is still doing well on it)

It's very common for children with Asperger's Disorder to have difficulty with attention - and I'm not sure doctors are doing right by your son to give him a separate diagnosis of ADHD. The latest thinking on Asperger's Disorder and Autism is that they aren't really brain disorders - they seem to relate to dysbiosis, an imbalance in gut bacteria. See http://www.myaspergerschild.com/2011/05/intestinal-dysbiosis-and-autistic.html

The natural remedies you describe would also be very soothing to the digestive tract - this may explain why your son is improving.

Thanks for the add'l info Dr. B. I also note Asperger's has been dropped from the DSM and our son is atypical on certain symptoms, nonetheless, he still has issues that we try to address as best we can.

It is also nice to know that our remedy may have some solid science behind it. The digestive system issue actually makes sense since our consumption of processed foods has increased exponentially in the last 40 years or so. I've worked with many coworkers who are in their 20's who constantly complain of gastrointestinal issues. Their diets suck.